SAO: in your time.
Hello welcome to another chapter and side project right now another SAO story about Kazuto time traveling back in time to stop as many deaths as possible… enjoy.
With that enjoy this new chapter.
Start chapter:
(Asuna's pov)
As they stepped out in the middle of the third floor. Looking around at the scenery
Then she noticed Kirito made his way to the forest.
"Aren't we going to the main city to activate the Teleporter?" Asuna asked
Kirito looked back still looking like an empty husk his missing eye creeping her out.
"No…someone else can do it." He said as he walked away.
Asuna sent a quick message to Argo before rushing off to join Kirito.
Asuna struggled to keep up after him especially when they entered the forest.
"Kirito…will you party with me?" Asuna asked thinking that he couldn't refuse not after all that's happened and to have contact with her again.
She was wrong
"No…you can follow me. I can't stop you if you do…but I will never party again…" the black swordsman said
Asuna gulped as she followed him
"Say Kirito…what level are you? Being able to take out 3 bosses like that mostly on your own."
Kirito said nothing for a second she thought he didn't hear her but then he responded
"Level 25." He said
The blackswordsman winced
'damn' The blackswordsman thought
he didn't mean to say the actual number he meant to say 20 which would have been a more realistic number. But some reason he found himself unable to lie to her.
He sighed and kept walking.
They found themselves infront of two NPC's fighting
The start of the elf war campaign quest.
Asuna looked to Kirito "are we going to help one?" She asked
After a while The Black Swordsman nodded "yes the dark elf. But wait for an opening." He said
Asuna winced 'he said it so impassively…I'm starting to hate this more and more.' She thought.
Both The Black Swordsman and Asuna saw an opening at the same time and lunged in at the forest elf.
The Elf at this point had in fact lunged at the dark elf ready to deal a life threatening blow when the dark elf parried it sending the forest elf stumbling
That's when Asuna appeared and let out a barrage of attacks on the forest elf.
One of the Attacks glanced his cheek making the NPC bleed
The elf growled as he clutched his cheek
"Stay out of this human if you know what is good for you!" He snarled
"Unfortunately that is not something we can do." A voice said off to the side as both the elves turned and saw The Black Swordsman walking out of the brush as he almost impassively ran another Forest elf through with his sword killing it.
"Your forces are tattered I'd suggest fleeing with your life if you have any remorse about it." The Black Swordsman said
The forest elf snarled looking at the blood bath his comrads were laying in.
"You…damn you!" He roared as he charged straight at Kirito in blood lust
Asuna tried to intercept but was bashed away.
Not that The black swordsman cared
He felt the sword dig into his shoulder as his free hand wrapped around the NPC's neck.
There was a bit of grunting before the forest elf was forced to drop his sword The Black Swordsman watched impassively unaware of green both Asuna or Kizmel the dark elf we're becoming.
With a twist there was a sicking crack as the forest's elf's neck was suddenly posed at a weird angle before shattering.
The black swordsmen did nothing but sheath his sword
"Thank you Swordsman both of you, I was sure I was done for." The dark elf said
"Think nothing of it." Asuna said
Kirito just grunted which made Asuna glare at him
"Ignore Mr Brooding over there. He's not very social." Asuna said
The dark elf smiled "my name is Kizmel thank you adventurer's." She said
"My name's Asuna, and that's Kirito," Asuna said
Kizmel bowed "once again thank you both, but I'm afraid I must depart I am in the middle of delivering a dangerous artifact and-!" She gasped
"It's gone!" She said before looking around frantically for it.
Off to the side Asuna looked to see Kirito pick up a small pouch.
"This wouldn't happen to be it, would it?" He asked holding it by the strings.
Kizmel looked over and gasped
"Oh yes! yes! yes! thank you! thank you!" She thanked him as she took it from him and looked at the Jade key.
"Think nothing of it." The Black Swordsmen said impassively as he turned to leave.
"Wait!" Kizmel said
"Let me repay you at least. It's not much but a bath and bed for the night is all I can offer." She said
Asuna looked at Kirito who nodded "very well lead the way."
As kizmel lead them to the dark elf base Asuna noticed Kirito was on very high alert. Jumping at any slight sounds not attributed to them walking or talking.
'He's acting like a wounded animal.' Asuna thought before she shook herself 'idiot he is wounded he pulled out his goddamn eye.' She thought
Kizmel walked over to The black Swordsman.
"May I ask you a question?" Kizmel said
"Your about to." The Black Swordsman said impassively.
"Why are you so closed off to those around you?"
Asuna hitched her breath, something Kizmel noticed but didn't respond to.
"My history is of no matter to you. I don't feel inclined to talk about the past." The Black swordsman said
"But if you don't discuss the past how can you move forward?" Kizmel asked
Asuna notice Kirito wince wondering what he was thinking
The Black Swordsman was thinking about the words…words that sounded similarly eerily close to his daughter a long lifetime ago.
'Yui…I wonder if my involvement with time has changed her now too? Will we even meet? Will I?' The Black Swordsman thought before he shook it off stamping away the vestiges of Kirito back into his recesses.
"By making sure it never happens again." The Black swordsman answered as he kept walking.
Asuna shut her eyes and took a long haggled Gulp.
Eventually they reached the Dark elf camp. Kizmel turned to the two
"I need to go and inform my leader about what transpired. For now relax." She said
"We will join you." Asuna heard Kirito said
Kizmel nodded "very well follow me."
Once they spoke to the dark elf leader Asuna found herself in the bathhouse relaxing as Kizmel came in
"Are you enjoying this?" She asked her
Asuna nodded "yeah it's quiet relaxing." She said with a bright smile before she looked down
"I just wish that Kirito was here with us." She said
Kizmel raised an eyebrow "but he is I believe he's only in bed we can ask him to join us if you like?" She said
Asuna shook her head "not like that Kizmel…it's…complicated emotionally so." She said
Kizmel nodded and sat down
"Tell me." She said
Asuna sighed "well…originally I met Kirito earlier he was this proud warrior. He saved my life. And we fought together, through thick and thin we had each others backs. I even thought we had something special…" Asuna said
"And what happened?" Kizmel promptly
Asuna responded "an accident. A mistake. Too much to say but we parted on bad terms. Unwillingly but still parted if only expected it to be for a short while and then things would go back to business as usual, but he took the loss much harder than I expected." Asuna said
"The fact is it's my fault, the cold emotionless Kirito you talked to isn't the person I once knew. But it's the one I created. It's my own task to bring him back…" Asuna said guilty
Kizmel pushed an arm on Asuna's shoulder
"Sometimes these things take time. You can't accomplish everything at once and expect perfection." Kizmel said
"But what if you don't have that time? what if your have one chance and you miss it or?" Asuna asked becoming more and more destressed
Kizmel shook her to bring her back to focus "It doesn't matter, time isn't something that we focus on, using the time to our maximum is how things get done and in that sense then use what time you can…" kizmel said
Asuna looked as if she was about to cry holding a hand to her heart
"Thank you." She bowed before wiping away her tears "Excuse me I'm going to get ready for bed." She said as she got out of the water and went to her bed.
Kizmel watched Asuna leave her eyes focused on the player as Digital code was seen in her pupils.
(Unknown Void)
:There done:
A small girl looking around the age of 8 or so in a pure white dress, jet black hair flowing down her head to her shoulders. Accenting her Caucasian skin tone.
This was [MHCP-001] or Mental Health counseling Program, prototype 1 code named Yui.
Her job was to provide help to all players playing SAO and track there mental health.
The only issue was that once the Game began the [Admin ID: Kayaba] had refused to allow her to interact with the players.
She could only watch as her subroutines screamed for her to do something.
Fortunately for her. Someone had programmed her with Admin privileges as well. And while she was unable to physically leave the room that occupied as her prison she was able to effect lower AI's
It was hard to accomplish and not get caught but she had found a way to interact with players. She just had to be careful with how she utilized it.
Yui pulled up two screens one showing Kizmel sitting alone in the bath house on the 3rd floor and one showing her digital code in Hexadecimal and Hex bytes, in several different colors.
Green. Red, and Blue.
90% of the code screen was green, the 19% was blue followed by the one or two lines of Red sometimes appearing on the screen.
Green was the program's pre-programed, true/false statement's, IE: how it would interact with the players, if this is done do this, say these things, etc. logical circuitry
Red was coded errors: places where the computation could not be launched or be carried out at this point. Usually this was due to a glitch, normally with the [Master system (MS) ID: Cardinal] would identify and reset back to baseline and re-run the program.
However these ones were not due to a glitch.
The final ones were Blue: Her code. Being a more sophisticated AI less powerful than [MSID: Cardinal] by only pure admin power. However this did give her the ability to access the system and change it as well.
Or in this case temporarily take control and speak to Players using the NPC's as a shell.
She had to be quick though otherwise [MSID: Cardinal] would catch on and lock out this means of communication with players.
Normally [MHCP-001] wouldn't even go this far to go against either [MSID: Cardinal] or [Admin ID: Kayaba] orders but the player in question was by far the most Dangerous entity in the game by far
[Player ID: 10100110] codename Kirito was an oddity,
His level and skills were too high.
Matching his skills and ranks of those skills they came to match that of what could be seen on the 75th floor.
What was even more confusing was the fact that no other player had such an advantage. Say for one but those fluctuations at times and with how fast the player is it's probably a glitch,
Thus for the time [MHCP-001] designated herself to overwatch [Player ID: 10100110] due to having such overwhelming power to change everything and only interfere if something went wrong.
Then it had.
His sanity took a nosedive.
With the target visible unhinged he had the ability to destroy everything. Himself, the players, the world,
Her.
She had to intervene, so while it's fortunate that
[Player ID: 10100110] had found an [NPC AI] that was high enough to be given free travel but low enough that There functional processors wasn't a priority on
[MSID: Cardinal's] list she could operate with impunity. Until this is solved
Or until [NPC ID: 1138] codename Kizmel's
[Processor route ID: Elf war Campaign Quest-line] is complete then She would have to find a new NPC to inhabit,
Fortunately it appeared that [Player ID: 1011123] Code name Asuna was doing a good job as well. With trying to help [Player ID: 10100110]
Hopefully given the slight push would help
[Player ID: 1011123] heal [Player ID: 10100110]
Because if not they were all going to be in a lot of danger.
[MHCP-001] looked at the Code screen for
[NPC ID: 1138] and suddenly all the blue text changed to green and subsequently all the Red text flashed yellow stating recomputation before flashing back to green as well.
[MHCP-001] would have never been noticed by [MSID: Cardinal]
[MHCP-001] pulled up a screen which showed
[Player ID: 10100110] on his bed tossing and turning.
Which shouldn't be possible as Players are completely still once asleep.
Pulling up the players file and brain pattern's [MHCP-001] could confirm that the player was indeed asleep.
He had also hit REM sleep.
He was experiencing a nightmare.
[MHCP-001] was concerned now. Sleep deprivation could cause Many different kinds of health issues including hallucinations,
The danger that [Player ID: 10100110] has spiked up drastically.
(The Black Swordsman Bed chamber: Dark elf base)
Indeed while the Black swordsman laid on the bed asleep it wasn't peaceful. It was anything but. As he tossed and turned groaning
(Mind scape)
The Black Swordsman stood in a dark void looking around
'Where am I?'
'You don't remember?'
The Black Swordsman looked up to see Kazuto above him
The Black Swordsman growled 'what are you doing here?'
'Helping you heal.' Kazuto said
The Black Swordsman laughed
'Don't you remember fool, you begged me to take away the pain! Don't come crying to me because I've done the job too well!' The Black Swordsman snarled
Kazuto just snapped his fingers and flashes of his life played before the two.
(Play song: 24 frames: by Jason Isbell)
'I told you this is wrong, your not healing, your killing us.'
The blackswordsman snarled 'and that's because the love of your life abandoned you.' He snapped back.
'You don't know that.' Kazuto said
'Bullshit!' The Black Swordsman snapped
'She loved us beforehand and she will again.' Kazuto said
The black swordsman scoffed 'are we talking about when we abandoned our family after finding out our real parents died in a car crash? Or when we quit kendo because your cousin didn't need you to train anymore?' He said
Kazuto looked at The Black Swordsman.
'I'm talking about when we met her, when she carried us through this very adventure.' He said
'When she spurred our advances so many times!' The black swordsman argued before laughing
'Admit it. Your love for Asuna died the day she left us.' He said
Kazuto said nothing as behind him the image of Kirito holding Asuna's letter while he sits by the fire.
Then it changed to Himself and Asuna standing above a crumbling Arncrad holding hands.
Then how he was holding Asuna after being attacked by Heathcliff.
Before it changed to her bloody and broken form. Blood pooling around her lips as her eyes go blank.
Suddenly they were back under the tree on the 57th floor with Asuna running up to him ranting about how he shouldn't be sleeping now.
Kazuto was then holding Asuna in the Real world after There date. Well proposal during the meteor shower.
Asuna had the camera on her shoulder which Yuuki was using to see the world for one last time…
Then her sleeping form with the nervegear on her head as she was stuck in Alfheim online.
How he failed to save her.
Just like he failed to save her on that fateful day.
In that fateful car crash…
The shards of glass flying everywhere while the panicked expression of Asuna on her face
The last expression he would see on her face.
Not the way he wanted to remember her.
Then he was above her casket again as it was lowered into the ground.
Then he was in the white room which the voice that sent him back only this time he had a smile
A dark smile as He was standing in the teeth the jaws opened and He fell through
Before landing in the Dicey cafe
His old firends sneering at him about how he failed to 'protect Asuna' and 'what sort of husband he was'
Then back to the letter
That damned letter…
(End song)
The Black Swordsman lurched up in his bed panting
'Stupid Kid…just lay down and die…' he thought as he checked the time
5:00 am.
To early to head off but he knew he would be unable to sleep so he picked himself up and headed outside to grind on some monsters.
Unaware to him in the hallway Asuna walked out of the shadows.
She had come to investigate the situation.
Because Kirito was screaming in the night
Screaming her name…
Later in the morning Asuna, Kizmel and The Black Swordsman walked to the cave to complete the second part of the quest.
They fought their way through to the boss Nephila Regina.
And right before they were about to engage the boss they heard of another party entering as well
Asuna watched as Kizmel and Herself hid under the elf's cloak while Kirito stood in the open
Soon a party of four entered.
Kibaou followed by a man with a chainmail coif and an ax and two others. Met before the boss door.
"Hey what's a beater like you doing here?" The man with the chain coif said
"Where's Asuna?" Kibaou asked
"Does it matter?" The Black Swordsman asked
"Yeah kinda does. Is she safe?" Kibaou asked now worried
The Black Swordsman sighed "I don't know I haven't seen her."
Kibaou huffed "damn I thought she was with you. Listen we're trying to take on the boss for the guild making quest if you want you can join us." He said
The man with the ax looked at Kibaou like he was insane
"Kibaou!"
"Shut it Morte!" Kibaou said
"Well what do you say?" He asked
The black swordsman was thrown for a loop everything he remembered told him that Kibaou was a prick and would rather attack him than group with him willingly
"I'll pass." The black swordsman said leaning against the wall.
Kibaou sneered then walked out in a huff "fine whatever." He said
Before he was out of earshot Kirito called back
"Hey Kibaou?"
The spiky haired swordsman looked back
"What beater?!" He snarled
"Thanks for the offer." He said sounding genuine
Kibaou blinked before smiling, flashing a smile that was almost reminiscent of Klein…
Then he walked off.
The black swordsman leaned against the wall and snarled
"Stupid." He spat
Kizmel and Asuna reappeared looking concerned
"Kirito?" Asuna asked
"What?!" The Black Swordsman snapped making Asuna stumble back in fear.
Suddenly a loud scream came from farther down the hall
"Come on!" Asuna said as she ran off.
Kizmel followed running off with her
The black swordsman watched as he sighed and picked himself off the wall.
'I should just leave, she's only going to be nothing but trouble.'
'Go to her.' The voice of Kazuto said in his mind.
And he found his legs carrying him
'Damn it!' The blackswordsman grit his teeth.
He watched as Kibaou and his friends fled in fear as they entered the boss room of Nephila Regina
The battle was impressive with the two health bars but the black swordsman stayed back as Kizmel and Asuna took on the boss.
When it died the loot was gathered and they took stock of the situation.
"Why didn't you help us in the fight?" Asuna asked harshly.
"Because it would have been overkill." The blackswordsman said walking away
Asuna huffed.
"How can you say that-!" She started only for the sound of shattering glass behind her as She saw Kirito in the post action pause of throwing a stone behind her.
One attack was enough to kill an enemy.
Asuna looked horrified. She knew she was strong he used that skill before on the first floor but a skill like that shouldn't be enough to actually kill an enemy 2 floors up.
The black Swordsman turned away adjusting his collar
"Let's go." He said
They made it back to the dark Elf base and as a reward Asuna got meterials to forge a better rapier which they do before heading off to the main city.
While Asuna was looking at different equipment and stuff The Black swordman went to talk to Argo.
From Argo he learned that a boss meeting was going to occur later on today on the field boss
When he left he found Asuna had finished her shopping and they went back to the Dark elf base to train and get ready for the field boss in three days. After they arrived at the boss meeting.
The players of the two newly formed Guilds officially were The DBK and the ALS. As they now officially formed under there banners having actually done the quest to mark them as actual guilds.
Now they were planning on making an attempt at the field boss the Indolent Treent.
Argo stepped forward. "Ok everyone, the boss here is kinda easy. It's literally a walking tree." She said
"What like treebeard?" A voice off to the side asked
"What the fuck is a treebeard?" Someone else asked
"Um Lord of the Rings ugh forget it." The player said before going silent.
Argo coughed "anyways his main attacks are that he can slam his arms into the ground and make a line of tree roots shoot up in one direction or jump and make a circle of them shoot out around him following what should be the shockwave.
"What happens if we get caught by them?" Someone asked
The roots bind you still. And um if your of the female demographic it's recommend that you don't let it happen.
Everyone cringed "damn Kayaba 18+ already." Someone said
"To be fair the roots drain your health at the expense of it gaining lossed life back so it's a warning for everyone." Argo said
Asuna slowly nudged herself closer to Kirito at the fact the boss would be willing to do unspeakable things to her should she get caught by it.
"How many health bars does it have?" Diabel who was the guild master of the DKB asked
Argo sighed "the boss only had 2 health bars but don't underestimate it." She said
"Is there anything else we should know any rage form if it gets to low health?" Kibaou asked
Argo shook her head "No nothing like that at all." She said as she stepped back to allow the two guilds to talk it out.
"Ok the plan is simple like before 6 teams will comprise of the DKB and the ALS team formation's will be the same as well." Diabel said
"Wait but Furrinkazen and The legend Braves aren't with us what about them?" Kibaou asked
"They are leveling up. Apparently the boss fight was a rude awakening for them and they don't feel confident in fight until they are higher, hopefully they will be with us when we face the floor boss." Diabel said
Asuna looked to Kirito and noticed he was looking at the DKB
"The other players not in a guild are to either form there own raid party or join a guild. Even if it's just for this fight." Diabel said before looking at Asuna and Kirito
"Can I expect you to jump in if things get rough?" He asked
The black swordsman was shocked 'they were…asking for his Help? Was he dreaming?'
Fortunately Asuna stepped up
"Of course." She nodded
Diabel nodded "very well then your group G and will be the reserve group stay behind away from aggro and figure out it's attack pattern and come in if you see we need it." He turned to the group
"Is everyone okay with this?" Diabel said
Everyone nodded
"Good are there any questions before we break off."
"I got one. What about loot drop's?" Someone asked
Argo stepped forward "my contact didn't say so it's assumed that it doesn't have one unlike other MMORPG's not all SAO bosses drop something." She said
Soon the group split back up and Asuna and Kirito made their way to The dark elf base.
Three days later the field boss fight was on them
Asuna and the black swordsmen sat in a bush watching the raid group fight. The boss.
"Kirito do you think they can deal with this boss alone?"
The blackswordsman wasn't even pay attention rather looking through his menu
"They should be if they are leveled enough."
"What level should they be?" Asuna asked.
"The recommended level for Illfang was 15, for Asterius it was 22-24-25. They should be about 26-27 to fight this boss." He said impassively looking at his nails
Asuna gasped as she looked at her hub she just hit level 25 yesterday and she heard other players in the boss meeting that she was probably the strongest player in the game right now.
No way anyone is at the respective level to take on the boss's
Asuna jumped up "we gotta move!" She said as he lunged in
The black swordsman saw her lunge in wanting to stay back and wait. Why should he be bothered by these people who had all this time just spat on him.
He doubted they were genuine back at the boss meeting they just wanted his skills because he was so strong.
They were just using him and he knew it.
'Why should I care about them? I shouldn't care, I don't care.' The black swordsman thought as he watched Asuna charge in sword raised. A sword skill activated
'If not for them…then for her.' The voice of Kazuto rang into his ears.
The black swordsman watched as a root snarled around Asuna's ankle making her trip. Falling face fist canceling the sword skill as more tree roots snakes around her to make an example of her.
The black swordsman acted not knowing why but he only saw red.
No he saw Sugou Nobuyuki, the one who caused the car to crash that killed her that day.
With a carnal Roar and one deftly slice he cut apart all four tree roots making Asuna fall to the ground.
And with a titanic kick he sent the boss flying. Flying back at such speeds it was nearly untraceable.
And there was the Black Swordsman lunging savagely at it.
Hacking and slashing grunting in blind pure rage he used his teeth to pull away tree branches just so he could get one more better swing,
The boss tried to get him to stop but the blows were too much as the boss was sapped of it's strength it laid down
Still he kept on punching even after the boss stopped struggling.
He let out a monstrous roar as the boss shattered scattering triangle polygons around him like an artwork.
A terrible fearful beautiful artwork.
Everyone watched in fear as The Black swordsman got control of his emotions his fists clenched in a ball of rage as he stood up
He walked over to Asuna's form who had fallen unconscious
He picked her up bridal style and made his way back to the Elven camp.
On the way back He could only think of what caused him to rage out like that. Asuna had been in danger before but he never reacted like that. Nor did he ever in-vision his enemies being that parasite. So what happened.
Maybe the stress and lack of sleep was getting to him.
He decided to lay down once they got back to the dark elf camp.
He got Asuna to lay down and was about to follow when The Black Swordman got a message from Argo.
A: hey can you meet me on the Stairs of 2&3 we need to talk in person.
The black swordsman sighed well there went his much needed nap.
He made his way to the stairs and started decending down he had no idea where Argo was she could be halfway down or at the exit to the second floor.
He kept walking and was fortunate that just around the bend Argo was perched against the wall.
"Thanks for showing up." Argo said
"Not that you gave me much of a choice." The black swordsman said looking out
"What did you want to know about?"
You know the man with the Ax and chain coif?" Argo asked
"Morte? yeah what about him he's apart of the DKB." The Black swordsman said
"Yeah if so then why wasn't he at the boss meeting. I've heard from Lind and Diabel himself he's pretty high up in the ranks of there system. Not only that but apparently he was a beta tester like us." Argo said
"Plus he hasn't been seen around there temporarily base at Zumfut. I'm thinking something is fishy with him.
The black swordsmen looked in the distance
"Do you know where he was last?" He asked
Argo shrugged "no even I lost sight of him." She said as Kirito began to walk away.
"H-hey what is he?" Argo asked
The black swordsman didn't stop, just responding "dangerous." As he left.
When he returned to the Camp Asuna had woken up but was groggy as she rubbed her eyes
"What happened?" She asked
"You ran in stupidity and we're subdued, forcing me to charge in after you." The black swordsman said bluntly as if scolding a small child
Asuna winced as Kirito didn't mince his words.
"Um ok…but why?" Asuna asked not that she wasn't happy about it but for 2 floors now Kirito had been distant from her not even batting an eye at her.
The black swordsmen sighed
"You remember what I told you before the First boss fight?" He asked
Asuna nodded
"Still applies here." He said
Asuna gulped "but that was in a party…we aren't in a party."
Kirito didn't answer as he left the room
"Good night Asuna." He said closing the door.
It was the first time he had said her name since they had met up again.
The next day Asuna woke up to see a pop up in front of her face
Kirito: Requests to make a party
Accept: O Decline: X
Asuna accepted instantly watching as her hub change to incorporate the new information
The first thing that shocked her was how Kiritos life was
He was in yellow.
Asuna flung out of bed and got dressed before taking off to find him.
'You stupid boy where the hell did you go?' She rant in her mind as she ran off to find Kirito
A few minutes later outside of the camp she found him
He was fine taking on 15 mobs at the same time
He was ducking and weaving expertly under there attacks and lashing out when he found an opening
Asuna could also tell from the grunts he wasn't training.
No he was venting.
And this game was his punching bag.
The mobs fell down in droves as even without activating his swords skills one slash was enough to kill pretty much anything.
It was just the sheer number of them that was overwhelming him
So despite her logical and fearful part of her brain to tell her to let him be in piece she lunged in anyways.
To his credit he didn't react when she flew over his shoulder to impale another mob about to attack him from a poor angle.
Nor did he comment when she stood back to back with him blocking all vectors he couldn't cover himself
The rhythm that they had fell back into form naturally as if they were never broken in the first place.
Some bonds were apparently too strong to break.
After another few minutes the mobs had all shattered leaving the two alone in the color spread of polygons.
Asuna sheathed her sword and began to walk away figuring Kirito wouldn't acknowledge her presence at all let alone react.
And then again she was thrown for a loop
"Thank you." She heard him say.
Asuna turned around in shock the second time he had willingly talked to her.
And upon looking at him she could see why.
A faint glimmer of hope. Of life in his black dead eyes.
There was hope for him. She could hear it in his voice
Asuna smiled
"Of course…partner." She said as she walked away.
Not a friend
Not an ally
Not an adequate.
A partner.
God did it feel right to hear that word.
The Black swordsman nodded and followed her out.
They spent 3 more days in and out of the Elven camp
After all they had much more of the elf quest to do before they reached the next floor.
As it turned out the Elf campaign quest was pretty essential for the boss of this floor
Why because the Sub boss for the fight was the Fallen Elf Commander, the third secret faction that was pulling the strings of the Elf war while secretly trying to destroy both of them. And the only way to encounter him was to play though the quest.
What made matters worse was that they were comprised of both Dark and Forest elf species.
Of course the prerequisite to fight the boss was join the elf war Campaign.
Heck getting entrance to the labyrinth which was the fallen elf stronghold on this was impossible to do without starting the quest.
Didn't matter which side you chose as it would all lead to the same path.
Which is why despite the fact being only 3 floors in the party was having the hardest fight of their life.
Why? Because this boss was using sword skills.
Not only that better sword skills than them.
Already 2 players had died
Of the 3 squads that actually competed the quest up to that point. One party of ALS totaling in 6. One party of DKB, also totaling 6 and Asuna and the Black swordsman, 2 losses is kinda a lot.
The fallen elf commander parried Kirito's attack as he laughed
"Your too late! Finally the world shall await to see the full might of the Elven race. We will be complete again!" He said
Kirito was pushed away as the cutscene played out.
"Everyone heal but pay attention this will tell us what we need to do to beat it!" The black swordsman ordered
He watched as the cutscene player the doors behind the elf opened and vines and roots snakes around him while he laughed not caring or not noticing.
Seems however he wasn't noticing as suddenly when a root wrapped around his waste and pulled him into the room he scream with fear.
The raid party watched on anticipation as the stone doors began to close again
Only for them to explode as an amalgamation of Treebeard and a demon tree from an old Manga of another black swordsmen* came walking out
"Holy this this is the thing of nightmares.
The. They saw it's name
Nerius the Evil Treant:
And it had 6 health bars.
They were fucked.
"We don't have enough numbers to supplant this boss we need to go." One of the Dragon knights told there commander.
Suddenly as the tree boss stomped roots appeared on the door leading out of the room
"Looks like we can't." He said as he leveled his sword up again
Suddenly the boss began to speak "you…we're ment to give me power! I demanded power!"
"Dodge!" The black swordsman yelled as he threw himself to the left as a massive tree trunk arm slammed into the ground where he once stood
Another voice eliminated from the boss.
"You demanded power like you demanded servitude…now watch what you rot upon your people."
Everyone watched as the Fallen elf commander hung from the branches of the boss like how the old Roman's hung people on a cross or a lynching
It was clear the Elf was a husk. And tree roots were impaled in his back like IV's which fed power to the tree.
"Target the elf that's the weak spot!" Kirito ordered as he jumped into a tree limb and ran up it to reach the elf.
The black swordsmen got one good hit in before he was thrown to the side by the tree.
"You insolence!" The tree roared
Suddenly the elf looked up at them a tortured expression on his face
"I'm…sorry…forgive me…" he said in a broken voice
Then the tree laughed and rushed at the party.
"Damn, wish we had backup right about now." One of the ALS members said
"Blame Kibaou he thought that much of the quests would only hamper progress. Well now he's powering through the campaign to try to save us." Another said
"Yeah Same with Diabel." Another person said who was one of there only tanks for the raid said
"Rearguard please tell me you can do damage to this thing?!"
The black swordsmen and Asuna looked at each other and nodded
"We can but give us an opening." Asuna said
"You got it when you find the opportunity. Everyone attack!" The squad leader of the DKB yelled as they charged.
The black swordsmen and Asuna landed several blows and relized something. As they landed on the ground to avoid another attack.
"Guys it's on two legs, if we knock it down we should be able to freely attack it." The black swordsman said
"Should?" One of the ALS members asked
"I'm just guessing judging by the way the thing sways when we hit it." He responded
"Good enough for me. Fang follow Asuna and Kirito for there attack run when you get there hit that son of a bitch where it hurts." The DKB squad leader said
One Dragon knight who used a two handed hammer ran over to the two.
"Ready when you are." He said
Asuna was the one to order the attack and the players rallied forward
As it turned out Kirito was right about the tree falling over.
Unfortunately he didn't know about it getting back up again.
Still they had taken out 3 of its health bars while they were wailing on it.
"Status!" Asuna yelled
"I'm out of potions!" She heard someone say
"As am I!"
Asuna grit her teeth as she looked around.
"Almost everyone is hovering above yellow." She said
"We can't finish this Boss fast enough." Asuna heard Kirito say.
Suddenly behind them a streaking of arrows flew over and jabbed the tree making it roar.
The party looked over stunned
By the door was the main group of the Dragon knights bregade led by Diabel and the Arncrad liberation squad led by Kiboau
And they were being backed up by a contingent of Elven archers.
Asuna even spotted kizmel amoung the party too.
"Sorry we're late." Diabel said
Kirito stood up and shouted "raid group switch! archers aim for the Elf concentration fire on a single vector to knock it over than swarm him." He yelled
Diabel nodded "Rodger!" He said as the two groups charged allowing the group of 12 to pull back to safty.
As they joined the back of the formation Kizmel ran over and handed both Kirito and Asuna health potion's.
"Thanks kizmel what are you doing here?" Asuna asked
"Once we were told the fallen elves were the ones we mobilized we would have been here quicker but there were so many forces we had to split off to get to you in time." She explained
The black swordsman nodded "believe me I'm glad you did." He said as he heard the shattering sound of glass as the boss had been defeated
The fourth floor had been opened…
(Eoc)
And yet another chapter how do you guys like it? Please comment and as always keep reading-Bankerrtx01-